Akai Ito
by theClosetPoet7
Summary: He supposes that nothing will ever change the red string of fate no matter how many times he is reincarnated. He'll always have a monster inside him. Itachi dies a hero. And Sasuke and Sakura are always meant to be together.
1. In Tokyo

**Disclaimer:** Characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto

 **Akai Ito**

by theClosetPoet7

Summary: He supposes that nothing will ever change the red string of fate no matter how many times he is reincarnated. He'll always have a monster inside him. Itachi dies a hero. And Sasuke and Sakura are always meant to be together.

* * *

 _"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break." - Chines Proverb_

Chapter One

 **In Tokyo**

The first time it happens, it takes him five years to realize that he isn't in some alternate dimension that Uchiha Sasuke can gain access to. Or perhaps it was, but not one the Rinnegan wielder can open. Besides, his best friend had died five years before this happened.

When he opens his eyes, he realizes that they are too weak, and everything he sees is all blurry. And it doesn't take him one second to discover that he has somehow soiled his pants. When he shouts in exclamation, it astonishes him even more when no words come out of his mouth. Instead, quiet whimpers and then a full blown burst of tears comes out. It is then when he realizes that he is wailing like a newborn babe.

"Shhh, Naruto-chan, let Mama take care of you."

Somehow, his anxiety is alleviated when a woman, with long straight red locks takes him into her arms and cuddles him until his cries subside into quiet hiccups.

 _'Kaa-san.'_

He knows this person.

Had given her one last hug before she disappeared into bright streams of fairy lights. But not without telling him.

"I love you."

He coos.

"My sweet, sweet baby boy."

And his consciousness fades into nothingness.

It isn't until his seventh birthday when he finally understands that he is in another life. Another life where ninjas were somehow a thing of centuries past. A life where he isn't hokage. A life where all he needs to worry about was getting wet from the rain as he kicks a ball to reach a goal, a life where he gets scolded for eating too much ramen or candy during something called "Valentines Day". A life where his parents are alive, and even though he is grateful for that, everything seems mundane and boring because for some reason, he can't form a single kage bunshin.

.

.

.

It turns around when he meets Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura for the first time.

* * *

He can't find Hinata.

He can't find his wife.

That's something he worries about all the time. Because in his mind, this world is too big. Sure Konoha had trains when he was hokage. And when Uchiha Sarada had taken over after Konohamaru's reign, he had read about a research on building a ship that can sail beyond the skies. Nothing surprised him anymore. When he was eighteen, he had gone to a place similar to what his successor had described: endless black, the lack of what they had called gravity, and billions of possibilities.

Sasuke had become a pioneer of doing more research on it, with Sakura by his side, until she passed, exactly a year before his bestfriend's death.

He shakes his head to forget about the painful memories.

About his other life.

He takes a deep breath.

"Whoa, that seemed serious, is something bothering you?"

The young blonde slumps in his seat.

"Dobe."

"Dobe."

A soft knuckle makes contact with the top of his head.

"Is everything okay Naruto?"

Her green eyes look worried, and the fact that the emotion she shows is so genuine and so lovely, makes his heart flutter a little. Sakura-chan will always be beautiful in his opinion, though still brawny, and aggressive when it came down to it. He shyly notes the tiny preview of her cleavage as she leans over his table, and the shiny pink of her lips as she chews on it while she waits for his reply.

He had apparently been staring at his window for too long when the school bell signaled dismissal time.

His two bestfriends are gathered around his table with concern in their eyes.

Sasuke is wearing a blue sweater over his uniform today, with a dark red scarf wrapped around his neck. Naruto briefly notes the fact that it doesn't look professionally made and that his best friend has been using it for over three years already.

Sakura, who is also wearing a blue sweater shivers when a cool breeze comes in from the window. Sweeping her hair onto one side, and a hand holding over her checkered skirt down from the wind, the pinkette tilts her head to regard him again.

"It's so cold. Why are you sitting by the window?"

"I was thinking."

"I don't believe that."

He glares at his bestfriend who had a teasing smirk on. A sight he is still thankful for after all his best friend had gone through.

Uchiha Itachi had passed ten months ago. One dark night, he had come home from University College, only to encounter a woman who was being harassed by a gang. One thing led to another, and the next thing he knew, Naruto was driving fast to the hospital with Sakura crying on the passengers seat as they made their way towards the hospital where Itachi was in surgery from multiple gun shot wounds.

He didn't make it.

And a little part of his bestfriend had died that night as well.

It took some time.

There was anger.

A lot of it.

And even the desire to move to another town but somehow, Sasuke had stayed.

Naruto has no idea exactly what went on between his two friends.

Maybe it had something to do with Sakura suddenly disappearing one night, only to return the following morning with Sasuke in tow, a pretty blush adorning her cheeks and a firm hand holding her long time crush's pale one.

"I miss Hinata."

"Eh? who's that?"

He berates himself for letting it slip.

For some reason, it seems that his teammates have no recollection of their former life, though this life is somewhat similar to it. They had been assigned to a permanent group for class projects. Kakashi was their homeroom teacher, still with the nasty habit of coming in late and reading porn under the guise of a book on dogs. The rest of his former classmates were here, but Hinata wasn't. It tugs his heart a little when he thinks about how much he misses her and their kids, though he knows he won't be seeing Boruto and Himawari until he meets with her in this world.

He lives in what is called Japan and is therefore Japanese. He knows that the world is super big than what he formerly thought, people needed planes to go to other countries, you cannot travel to other villages on foot anymore unless you want to exhaust your body. And he is eighteen years old.

"Ne, Naruto, who is Hinata?"

He pulls himself out of this funk, he feels like there is always something that turns his day sour without him intending it. It was a constant loneliness he had before, but it is different this time because although he is happy and bubbly on the outside, there is something he knows is still missing.

It eats away at him everyday.

"It's nobody."

The other two look at each other with confusion on their faces.

"Let's go get ramen today."

His mood swiftly turns up.

"Eeeeeh, you mean that teme?"

"Aa."

"Great! let's go!"

He gathers his things in his arms and messily shrugs his jacket on and wraps his arms around both his friends.

It is something he should be grateful for. The fact that they are here.

He jogs the rest of the way to his favorite ramen stand, briefly noting the fact that his companions are a few paces behind him with fingers laced.

A big grin graces his lips.

He supposes that nothing will ever change the red string of fate even in this life.

He'll always have a monster inside him.

Itachi dies a hero.

And Sasuke and Sakura are always meant to be together.

.

.

.

"Hey Naruto, I heard from Kakashi sensei that we're getting a transfer student tomorrow."

 _-fin_

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Okay, so this is a series of one shots that will feature a take on the gang in various lifetimes. Point of view will mostly be from Naruto and his side of Sasuke and Sakura's relationship in each life. Maybe there will be some of Sasuke and Sakura POVs. I already have so many scenarios in my head!

R&R!


	2. In Nibelheim

**Disclaimer:** Naruto is not mine

* * *

 _"Love is a meeting of two souls, fully accepting the dark and the light within each other, bound by the courage to grow through struggle into bliss " - Author Unknown_

Chapter Two

 **In Nibelheim**

When it happens the seventh time, Naruto doesn't bother to be surprised when he wakes up anymore. After all the cycles, _that's what he calls it, cycles,_ he thinks that he probably won't be able to encounter anything relatively "new". And as he faces the foe of this world, he wonders if this man named Sephiroth is the Uchiha Madara of this life. Or perhaps he was Kaguya with his long silver locks cascading down his back and the cold stare he rewards everyone in his team.

He decides that this person is probably more Madara than Kaguya. Thinking back to one of his previous lives, one in which he spent being Sasuke and Sakura's pet dog, a pug he heard some people call him, though still named _"Naruto"_ , he had an inkling that the squirrel on forty-third street was definitely the maniacal Uchiha in another body. He had spent a majority of that life threatening the evil little thing if he had even the slightest bit of intention of hurting Sasuke or Sakura.

Going back to his previous statement however, he stands corrected because when he wakes up in Nibelheim after what he thinks is a good twenty or more years after he parted with the Hinata of this world, the first thing Naruto notices is that the Sasuke in this world is...

.

.

.

 **Blonde.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

And it takes him a moment to not laugh out loud at the prospect. For some reason though, the person he uses to see into this world has a different character than what he is used to. A different character to what he is. He thinks that perhaps in this life, he is not really living it but looking in through someone else's eyes. Vincent Valentine, is what his name is. And as he awakens from a long slumber... _was that a coffin he just came out of?_ The first thing that he takes note of is the fact that yes, Sasuke's soul must be inside this person named "Cloud" and aside from the absurdity of them switching hair color in this life, what has him puzzled and dazed was the observation that somehow, for some reason, he finds himself in the presence of Sakura's soul.

Being split in half.

At first, he takes back his previous statement the more time he spends with this group of ragtag individuals hell bent on saving the world.

 _(At least ninjas existed in this world, he wonders if one of his female companions is Konohamaru in a disguise.)_

Tifa Lockhart, he notices, reminds him much more of his pink-haired teammate, with her powerful fists and her gentle heart. As he watches her unintentionally show her emotions though she tries her hardest to keep it locked inside, always acting cheerful despite the trauma he knew she went through, he sees Haruno Sakura in moments when she comforts the Sasuke of this world and her resolve to stay by his side no matter what.

At the same time though, when he looks at Aeris Gainsborough, with her green eyes, and her teasing personality, and most especially her healing hands, he knows that a part of Sakura is definitely in this person as well. And that's when he finally comes to the conclusion that each cycle has no rules or bounds on how far some alterations are made.

For example, he knows where the Hinata of this world is, because long before he met his current team, he sort of had another life with her, though it didn't end with them having two wonderful kids.

In addition to that, not everyone from his first life can appear in each cycle. He distinctly remembers one life where Kakashi was nowhere to be found, although he had suspected that maybe his former sensei was that random stranger walking more than twelve dogs. Yes, she had to be his sensei in female form.

Still though, it amuses him how Sasuke's and Sakura's souls call out to each other consistently in every life.

And it further deepens his belief that they will forever be tied by that red string when he finds that Sasuke, seems to be caught in a love triangle with two Sakuras in this life.

How cute is that? he muses to himself, though his outside self lets out a cool smirk.

As always, he discovers that an ominous power called Chaos resides in him. And it turns out it was Hinata who placed it in him in order to save his life.

It doesn't take him long to hear that Itachi had died long before he crossed paths with Cloud/Sasuke. This further attests to the deep bond Sasuke will always have with his brother, as Itachi or Zack had given up his life to save Sasuke's.

So when he begins to add up all the things that make Cloud Strife similar to Sasuke and all the things that made him completely different. As he saw his comrade lower the other Sakura in the lake as they mourn her untimely demise, as he saw _Sasuke'_ s mind crack again.

Naruto realizes that perhaps it was Kami's intention to have two Sakuras in this life.

Because when he looks at the current Sasuke, as they get ready to battle Sephiroth slash Madara slash Kaguya, arming his gun to deliver an onslaught of mini rasengans...

He knows that if Tifa had not been here to put Cloud's mind back together again.

For sure the world will end.

He jumps into the battlefield and lets out an internal "Dattebayo" with a smirk on his face.

Because even if he isn't the main savior of this life.

.

.

.

At least, he can look cool fighting side by side with his forever comrades.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Kinda short haha, but this has been in the back of my mind for quite some time. :D More of Naruto pug in future chapters! (Don't know when that will be.)

R & R!


	3. In the Afterlife

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Kishimoto-sama.

* * *

" _You're the only one who calls out to my soul, the only person I want to spend the rest of my life with, only you. Only you." -theClosetPoet7_

Chapter Three

 **In the Afterlife**

The last thing he remembers is a blinding light as he lets out his last breath.

 _"Say hi to mama for me."_

Then he could vaguely recall reaching out to **her** fair hand while a welcoming warmth envelopes his person.

 _"...I love you Papa."_

And as the contours of his wife's face finally comes into view, with her beautiful smile plastered on her lips...

"Anata."

Uchiha Sasuke finally feels complete after a year of her absence.

"Sakura."

.

.

.

Then everything turns brighter.

He squints his eyes to block the painfully white light.

He stretches his hand out more towards her. Sasuke feels as if the distance between them has suddenly increased. He could see the panic in her eyes as she too is taken away from him.

"Sasuke-kun?!"

He activates his Rinnegan to push himself closer to her, using a strand of her hair as it falls naturally in the space between them.

He flashes several paces nearer.

And just when his hand is about to grab hers with only a millimeter separating them, a much stronger force pulls him away again.

Then he is staring at a much younger version of her, with her innocent eyes staring in fear of what is about to happen. She is fifteen again, as young as their first reunion two years after his defection from Konoha.

He doesn't understand why he knows this, but he is almost sure that they are not going to see each other for a very long while. The thought shatters his whole person as he uncharacteristically begins to let out a pained cry of desperation, calling out to her.

"Sakura!"

Her tears, as they always do, flows freely around them in this vast open eternity of pale white. And she too summons her strength to fight this invisible force that is pulling them apart.

"Sasuke-kun!"

It pulls both shinobi farther away from each other.

There is an endless void that he can see behind his wife and he knows that she is being taken inside...

further

and further away from him.

He activates his Sharingan and Rinnegan one last time and stiffens when he finally sees it.

A thin

red string

on his pinky finger.

He follows where it leads to and lets out a heavy breath.

It is then when his resolve grows.

And just when he is about to speak out his determination.

Her voice pushes through.

"We'll find each other again right?!"

"..."

"I know we will Anata!"

"..."

"No matter where! No matter when!"

He clenches both his fists as the last flicker of hope in his heart burns bright.

"You'll find me Sasuke-kun!"

The last bit of her strength drains from her person the same time his disappears as well and he suddenly feels weightless and weak.

Another blinding light surrounds him, this time with the biting cold covering his body, an immense contrast to what he had just felt upon reuniting with his wife.

He closes his eyes and stops fighting it.

But not without giving her an answer.

"I will. I promise."

.

.

.

It is an endless darkness that welcomes him.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Tis short, but a necessary introduction to the next part. Sasuke's POV.

Thank you for reading!


	4. In Two Lifetimes

**Disclaimer:** Naruto franchise? Not mine. :P

* * *

 _"And I'd choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you." - Kiersten White, The Chaos of Stars_

Chapter Four

 **In Two Lifetimes**

He goes through two lifetimes before he is reunited with his wife.

It is a gruelling process but one he thinks is worth it once he finally sees her.

The first time he gains consciousness after being engulfed by darkness, he knows that he isn't human. It takes him a while to realize that he had been reincarnated, initially chalking it up to a bad nightmare.

But once he has fully accepted the circumstances of this new life, he takes on a self-imposed mission.

To search for her.

To search for Uchiha Sakura.

So, the moment he is pushed by his supposed mother off the nest, Sasuke spreads his wings to fly out into the world. It is a scary feeling, falling down that tree. For a second he contemplates about just letting things be, to just die again because what would be the point if he lived his life as a hawk?

It is quite ironic, considering how he had once called his team "Taka".

However, as his downward speed picks up the pace, and he sees the ground coming closer and closer, the sun's rays blind his eyes.

The sheer amount of light reminds him of that last moment.

That final goodbye.

 _"We'll find each other again right?!"_

Her trusting eyes flashes before him and by instinct he starts to flap his wings up and down.

Up and down.

So that he can fly.

He soars.

He soars.

Once he has learned the essentials of living as a bird Sasuke starts searching for the love of his life.

He goes on for miles and miles.

Eat what birds eat.

Sleep where birds sleep.

Do what birds do.

He flies.

He flies.

He looks for her.

Several years pass before he finally has that sinking feeling in this chest that perhaps this is not the world they are going to relive in, but he pushes through nonetheless.

In time, he starts looking for others too. Anyone that remotely resembled his daughter, a child with black hair and glasses. Anyone with blonde hair. Or silver.

Or during times when he feels desperate and a bit hopeful.

Anyone with black hair and obsidian eyes.

But the longer he searches, the more he succumbs to the fact that he may never be able to find anyone.

Still though, he is eternally grateful for the short life span.

Fifteen years isn't too long.

And as he lays dying of his old age, resting atop a high tree while praying to Kami-sama for the next life to be better, Sasuke shuts his eyes and lets out a dying breath.

It is an eight year old child who finds his body.

The little girl asks her parents if they can bury Bird-san, chubby cheeks puffing out as her father rushes back to the house to get a shovel.

She had pink hair, emerald eyes and a warm smile.

.

.

.

But she wasn't Sakura.

* * *

The second life is even worse.

Because he lives it without the gift of sight.

It isn't as bad as he initially thought. There was a certain fear and apprehension there when he knows he's opened his eyes but can see nothing. But eventually, once his teacher has taken his hand in hers and has taught him the language of the blind, Sasuke thinks that it isn't that bad because at least he can use his limbs and other senses.

He can still walk to where she is.

He can still hear her laughter.

He can still smell her lavender shampoo.

And he can still taste her lips if he is lucky.

It's just another challenge, one he took for granted when he was once able to fly.

But the problem was,

He won't be able to spot her in a crowd.

Who knows if he'd passed her by one day, and simply didn't see her.

Those thoughts always bring a painful feeling in his heart but he allows himself to search for her anyway.

Because he had promised.

And she'd search for him too.

If she was in this life.

It ends the same way it starts, with him taken in by the darkness as his boat sinks upon hitting an iceberg.

As he clings onto floating debris and awaits for the rescue team, while at the same time hoping they won't come, Sasuke lets out a chilled breath.

It wouldn't be so bad, dying at fifty-two.

Considering how he has nearly forgotten what she looks like.

Except.

Pink hair.

Emerald eyes.

A warm smile.

* * *

He puts a cigarette into his mouth and inhales it deeply.

He exhales with a sigh of irritation as his friend takes out a cup of his favorite noodles and starts gobbling them up like there's no tomorrow.

Uzumaki Naruto is in this life.

And though he is happy to see a familiar face, this Naruto leaning a bit on the heavier side but still essentially the same person underneath,

Sasuke still feels incomplete.

Of course he would, because he hasn't seen Sakura yet.

It's a normal life, one set in a world he thinks is high tech and modern compared to his previous ninja life style. But at least he thinks he's the same race as he was, considering he is familiar with the language.

He glances at the snow falling outside the dobe's apartment.

This person doesn't seem to remember a life before this one.

But Sasuke is sure, that part of Naruto's soul must be in him.

Where was Sakura though?

In this world he had his family, he had his best friend, he had his sensei, the rest of Rookie Nine, everyone was here.

Except for his wife.

He wonders if Kami is punishing him.

Perhaps it is a form of atonement for his past sins.

"Hurry up."

"Okay, okay, geez, you can be so anal about being late."

Naruto finishes his meal and pushes himself onto his feet, padding happily to a dresser and taking out two tickets.

"I didn't know you liked idols so much Sasuke."

He merely rolls his eyes.

"Nii-san bought them, and they're front row seats as he said."

"Megurine Luka, do you know any of her songs?"

He shakes his head in response, of course he doesn't. But Itachi had insisted that he go see this singer, had even promised that if he didn't like her then his brother will grow tomatoes for him in his vegetable garden.

It is a happy life, he supposes, because at least there is no massacre and he can be with his brother like he once had been.

He admits that he had spent the earlier part of it actually happy but greedy; greedy for his parent's attention, and greedier for his brother's.

He shrugs his coat on and walks alongside his former rival.

It's outrageous how a twenty-seven year old lawyer such as himself is going out to a concert meant for teens. It must be some sick joke his brother is playing on him.

But he feels something tugging at his soul.

And he feels it getting stronger the closer he gets to the stadium.

When the lights dim, and they take out their glow in the dark tubes, Sasuke ignores the screams of the fans around him.

Because the moment Megurine Luka comes onstage and greets the audience, he couldn't help but just stare.

.

.

.

Pink hair.

Emerald eyes.

A warm smile.

.

.

.

Two lifetimes.

He's gone through two lifetimes before seeing her again.

But when her eyes meet his, still standing in the front row, noticing no one but her,

Sasuke thinks that he'd go through many lives just to have this moment if he has to.

Because he knows she's here, in this life.

Finally.

.

.

.

And the way she was staring back at him with that loving expression tells him that he's found her.

He's found Uchiha Sakura.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Megurine Luka is actually a vocaloid, but in here she's a real person. :D


	5. In the Next World

**Disclaimer:** Naruto wa watashi no monode wa arimasen

* * *

 _"My hands were meant to hold you, meant to take yours in mine as I pull you along to the rest of our forever." - theClosetPoet7_

Chapter Five

 **In the Next World**

She never thought that she'd be the next person to break his heart like this.

To be the cause of his pain.

The one whom he loses next.

She'd always thought that she would be able to send him off with a smile.

Because as she once said, if she could take all his heart break onto herself, she would do it without second thought.

She would've.

So when Uchiha Sakura, at the age of ninety, starts to feel that first sign of weakness after years of being the strong one in her family, all she could think of was the fact that Sasuke will be so devastated.

She asks her best friend to perform the tests, because she just knows, that if she does it herself, she won't have the heart to tell him.

The fact that she's dying.

The fact that time has finally caught up to her.

The fact that she's leaving him.

For the first and last time in this life.

Yamanaka Ino bawls over the diagnosis like a child being separated from her beloved parents. In truth, it came as a surprise that she's suddenly the one who has difficulty in breathing, the one who'd have these coughing fits when she had always lived a healthy lifestyle.

She knew though, that using so much of her life force to save others would eventually pick away at her immune system as well as her core strength piece by piece.

Ninety isn't so bad, considering she had friends before who didn't even reach thirty. She had never stopped working, never stopped studying. She and Sasuke never stopped trying to change the world for the better, had worked so hard to further their daughter's goals of reaching for the stars, literally. And she's proud, she's so damn proud of their little girl slash former hokage.

Space travel is just a tiny bit out of reach now, she knows that she'll be able to understand how the body adjusts to it soon.

Catching pneumonia now was just a temporary setback. One which she can treat with her current knowledge in herbal medicine. Except that it's a different strain. A bug. Just a bug that happened to be resistant to her medications. Or perhaps it's because her body has become too weak to fight as well.

Too old.

Too worn out.

Too weak.

A word she despises.

When her husband hears of the news and what it means, his face is a picture of utter heart break; a face she hadn't seen ever since they said goodbye for the first time as spouses. She had carried their toddler whilst trying to hold back her tears because of the uncertainty of their time apart.

And she could read all the hurt in his eyes, as he refused to believe that there was no cure.

It was a bug.

Just a bug.

Uchiha Sasuke spends millions on medical research, anything to come up with the right antibiotic.

She supposes that in time, with more resources, and the right machinery and technological advances they'd come up with the right weapon against it.

But not now.

Eventually, she loses her appetite.

Sasuke sees it when she starts to wither away.

When the same hand she'd once used to punch craters into the ground.

The same one that healed countless people.

The one that held his own, out of affection, out of comfort, out of **love** ,

had turned into a bony, frail one that couldn't squeeze his own in return.

.

.

.

He never leaves her side.

He never stops holding her.

He never stops telling her how thankful he is for the years.

And she's apologizing.

Always apologizing.

She's sorry for dying.

Sorry for letting him see her like this.

Sorry for being the one who breaks his heart.

The one that causes him pain.

 _The next person he loses._

.

.

.

He never stops telling her he loves her.

.

.

.

Eventually she asks that he take her home.

She spends the last few weeks telling him that he's made her so happy.

She says goodbye in a way that's so her.

So Sakura.

She lightly reprimands Naruto for crying too much, though she cries with him one day.

She teases Ino and tells her best friend that she'd make sure to say hello to Sai for her when she gets to the next life.

She smiles when all her students gather around her bed to say their many thanks for her dedicated training, while consistently reminding them to wear their face masks.

She listens as Sarada goes on and on about the progress of their research, and she holds her, she holds her baby girl and all her grandchildren as they squeeze in their king sized bed.

And Sasuke,

Never leaves her side.

Never stops holding her.

Never stops saying thank you.

When she wakes up one day knowing that it's special and knowing that she has to stand beside him one more time,

Uchiha Sakura gets up to prepare for the day and she cooks for her husband after months of letting him cook for her. It's a simple meal, onigiri with his favorite fruit mixed in with miso soup, but it makes him tear up as they eat in silence, always understanding one another in this noiseless way.

"We'll see each other again in the next world."

He glances up at her, with old and weary eyes widening at her sentence.

"I'll wait for you."

He sobs then, his grip on her hands tightening as he pulls them to his lips and kisses her knuckles.

"Thank you."

.

.

.

She lets out her last breath in his arms as they take their afternoon nap.

.

.

.

He never stops telling her that he loves her.

* * *

Five lifetimes go by before she sees him again after their brief reunion in the afterlife.

But her heart never gives up.

Because she knows that he's her soul mate.

And although she might have said that she'd wait for him,

It didn't mean that she couldn't go search for him too.

The same way she had all those years ago.

When Uchiha Sakura wakes up, or rather regains her memories of her past life, her pinky starts to burn hard as if a string is tightening around it, pulling her somewhere.

She follows blindly as she wonders around her room, debating whether or not she should leave while her parents are busy preparing for Christmas.

It is snowing heavily outside, but it calls to her.

Something is calling out to her.

She's in her winter clothes in minutes.

And as she's lowering herself off her window, cursing her currently non-ninja body as she struggles to carry her weight with two arms, Sakura nearly yelps when her tiny finger is tugged to the right involuntarily.

She loses her grip.

But as she's falling onto the four feet deep snow beneath her.

Pink strands spreading out when her beanie is taken away by the strong winter wind,

A tiny gasp on her pink lips,

Sakura's heart suddenly pounds fiercely in her chest.

Because she knows,

She just knows.

.

.

.

Strong arms reach out to her and catch her before she lands.

She's rolling around in the snow.

With her hero's body being pushed down by her own.

She's looking into her husband's eyes with his pure black irises widening at her friendly smile.

She let's out a happy squeal and crushes him to her arms.

"I knew we'd find each other in the next world."

The Sasuke of this life could only stare in confusion but with keen interest as she introduces herself.

"Haruno Sakura."

"..."

"Thank you for saving me."

He smirks in return.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

.

.

.

Her grip is strong and sincere.

* * *

 **Author's note:** I made myself cry. T_T at first I was gonna stop with Sakura dying but couldn't do it. It's Christmas after all!


	6. In Spring

**Disclaimer:** theClosetPoet7 isn't the owner of Naruto, Kishimoto is.

* * *

 _"You don't fall in love with a body, you fall in love with a soul. And once in love with a soul, everything about that body becomes beautiful." - A.B._

Chapter Six

 **In Spring**

The life prior to seeing Sasuke again, Sakura spends it as a cherry blossom tree.

It is so fitting, considering her namesake.

When she becomes cognizant as a plant, Sakura's first thoughts are one of trepidation. Because, who wouldn't be alarmed when they wake up and find out that their feet are buried beneath the ground?

Do roots even count as feet?

It's puzzling too, because she cannot pinpoint where her eyes are. But she is aware, fully aware of her surroundings. She is stationed at a park, where she can see similar trees across her and beside her.

And because she's always been a smart girl, and she's always had an analytical mind, Sakura spends a number of years learning about her capabilities.

First of all, she can look around the area on all sides.

It felt like weaving her chakra into a human body when her subconscious travels around her tree form. She could use her trunk, her branches, and when she reaches the age of fourteen, she dabbles in extending her sight through the leaves and the buds that sprout from her.

It had been an amazing view, seeing the sky more clearly. She'd spend several days just channeling her mind onto a leaf's, basking in the sun, and watching as the birds fly by.

Until it falls.

That's another challenge she discovers. As it turns out, once a certain part of her is separated from the main trunk, she loses its sight. Like when a strand of hair falls from your person and you barely notice. Except she does notice it when a flower or a leaf she sends her eyes into fall. It felt like being blinded for seconds.

Still though, she'd do it anyway. It wasn't so scary, because she'd always wake up in her usual spot in the core of the tree.

It is a lovely sight, seeing couples relax under her shade.

Seeing a baby take her first steps as her parents hold onto her chubby hands.

Seeing a girl profess her love to a boy in the spring.

Whenever she observes the lives of these strangers, she gets an ache in her heart and she's reminded of the fact that she still hasn't found him.

Sasuke.

Four lifetimes had gone by, some short while others excruciatingly long, and she still hasn't found her husband.

 _"No matter where! No matter when!"_

She had said those words without any hesitation, always determined to have a life full of love, otherwise it would be worthless.

But it has been a while.

And a while is too long.

She doesn't even know how long "a while" is.

How long is it?

So the more she watches over people's lives, the more she longs for her husband.

But the more she longs for her husband, the more her spirits go up to live this life anyway, because at least they're under the same sky.

If he is here.

They're still under the same sky.

* * *

Sakura wakes up one day when the earth begins to shake, it is terrifying considering how it is the first time she experiences something so strong without her being the cause of it. So she plants her roots firmly into the ground while she tries with all her might to remain standing.

It stops in mere seconds, but the earthquake is so powerful, so magnificent that her roots end up getting tangled with another's.

And it isn't long until she becomes aware of who exactly has been beside her all this time.

 _"Shishou!"_

 _"Sakura?!"_

It is a pleasant surprise, a meeting of a student with her mentor and if she could cry, Sakura knows that she'd be crying tears of joy by now. She realizes that they can now communicate through extending their roots to each other.

She had been living her life as a tree for sixteen years by now, and her master had been by her side the whole time.

They spend countless days talking about what they had gone through since they last saw each other. Sakura had died forty-two years after Tsunade did, of course there would be a lot to catch up on.

Tsunade asks her about Konoha's conditions the last time she saw it. And Sakura talks on and on. Though talk isn't the right word, because she is sending messages through their twined roots.

It's a sharing of memories.

When she finally gets to the topic of her experience with Sasuke in the afterlife, Tsunade tells her that she's had a similar experience with her former lover, Dan. And that she had met him in another life, three lives in fact, before she was reborn in this era.

 _"Have you thought about searching for him in this life Shishou?"_

There's a certain hesitation in the fifth hokage's answer before she tells Sakura of her inner thoughts.

As it turns out, Tsunade had indeed tried searching for her love, she had received some training from the tree beside her, when circumstances similar to her and Sakura's reunion allowed her to come into contact with the previous tree who occupied Sakura's spot.

 _"Uzumaki Mito?!"_

 _"Hai. Baasan was determined to find my grandfather."_

It is a sad story. Because Uzumaki Mito had kept feeling that pull, that undeniable pull that told her that her husband was somewhere. In response to that, she developed a technique on her own.

 _"It's a mix of the Yamanaka clan's expertise, as well as perfect chakra control."_

She connects the dots on her own. If her master had a face, she would be smirking by now.

 _"You've noticed right? The fact that you can see into the world through all your parts. Except when they fall."_

The first hokage's wife had developed a jutsu, one that will allow her to channel her life force into a single flower.

 _"Five centimeters per second, a sakura blossom falls five centimeters per second."_

 _"But with the right estimations, knowing the laws of physics, and taking into account the weather..."_

 _"She can go beyond this park."_

It's a big risk, considering how short a flower's lifespan was, but, if Mito had taken the risk then...

 _"She felt him didn't she? Had felt so strongly that he was nearby."_

 _"I've lived a hundred years already Sakura. I've seen so many battles, so many lives, by her side. One day, baa-san felt him. She woke up and just knew that he was somewhere."_

Uchiha Sakura lets out an internal prayer to kami that Uzumaki Mito had been successful in her attempt to reunite with her former love.

 _"And you shishou? You can't feel Dan-san in this life?"_

 _"If I did, then I would've done the same thing baa-san did."_

Sakura extends her roots further into the ground as a form of comfort. Then she feels that determination yet again.

 _"Teach me."_

It is a difficult jutsu, one that she supposes is similar to Chiyo baa-sama's life transporting technique, combined with storing chakra into her byakugou seal. She focuses her transfer of life force into the branch which reached the farthest. In a few months, it will bloom, then, she'd channel everything into that single bud.

Something tells her that he's here.

Sasuke is definitely in this life.

So she gathers and stores.

Gathers and stores.

Until on March of that same year, she feels a tug.

It takes her ten seconds before she sends Tsunade her last message.

 _"He's here."_

 _"Go Sakura. Before he gets farther."_

And he is.

The string is being stretched thin.

So as she once did during the fourth shinobi war, Sakura releases her seal. Instead of a surge of chakra going through her though, she finds herself being pulled into a tiny space. She's in a blossom. If her calculations are correct, a strong wind will...

Ah, there.

The winds come on lightly yet persuasively as Sakura is separated from her stem, and she rides it.

She rides the wind to find him.

To find her husband.

The cool breeze carries her a few miles away from the park, then she ends up in the very heart of a city, with countless citizens, going about their business.

She panics when she nearly slams into a car but is blown away by the force of others.

Sakura goes around the center of this enormous place; with high glass buildings and large metallic bridges that she has never seen before in her previous life.

Just as she's about to get too distracted with the sightings, she feels that tug again. So she allows the breeze and she allows her heart to lead her.

.

.

.

She lands on top of a woman's head.

Her hair is black.

Her eyes, a deep obsidian.

And she had this certain look on her that reminded Sakura of someone.

A firm hand picks her out from the dark tresses.

"What is it Anata?"

There's a look of puzzlement on the man's eyes which were stern looking but had a certain softness to it. He had a head full of spiky brown strands and a scowl that told her it was him.

It was Uchiha Fugaku.

"A sakura."

"Oh? I don't think I've seen a cherry blossom tree nearby."

He tucks the flower behind his wife's ear.

"She must have traveled a long way."

Sakura feels the warming of the woman's cheeks when the man takes her hand in his, her other rests lightly on her pregnant belly.

There.

The tug is pulling her there.

"That gives me an idea, Sakura is a pretty name for a daughter huh?"

"I thought we decided on Sasuke no matter what gender."

She giggles in a way that fills Sakura with a sense of familiarity because she had seen her smiles once upon a time, when she had been a child; when Sasuke's mother had been alive.

"For the next one. I want a daughter."

"Whatever you say dear."

Uchiha Sakura realizes that she won't be able to reunite with Sasuke after all. Because life as a blossom is too short. She had thought that she'd be satisfied with merely seeing him but Kami has granted her more than that.

He has allowed her to take a peak into her husband's new life.

 _"I pray that he'll be happy in this world. It doesn't have to be with me. As long as he's happy."_

When the time comes for her to die again, Sakura thinks that this life isn't so sad. Because she had spent the remaining of her days, floating on a bowl next to Uchiha Mikoto's bed.

The last thing she hears is her mother-in-law's lullaby as the expectant woman sings her unborn child to sleep.

.

.

.

And just because she had been selfless in her last wish.

As she always has been.

Kami plans her next rebirth in the same world.

.

.

.

Though it will take her fifteen winters before she remembers.

.

.

.

The fact that her soul mate is somewhere in Okinawa.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Ugh, I couldn't help it. I had to do something like this. Hope you guys enjoyed it! Thank you so much for your reviews. Naruto pug is perhaps coming next. :D I've kinda used the Japan setting a lot of times, but I just love it. ;D


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